A few years later, in 1904, Thomson, based on his experiments with cathode ray tubes, proposes the Plum Pudding Model of the atom, which suggests that the atom is made up of a positively-charged sphere or diffuse with negatively-charged electrons scattered all around the diffuse, similar to the way raisins are scatted in a pudding. Around the same time, science partners and spouses, Pierre and Marie Curie discover the radioactivity phenomenon which, along with Thomson's discoveries will play a significant role in the findings of both Rutherford and Bohr.
The Father of Nuclear Physics and His Contributions.
Sir Ernest Rutherford, a New-Zealand born English physicist and one of the preeminent scientists of the early 20th century, once said, "Gentlemen, now you will see that now you see nothing. And why you see nothing you will see presently. " Although not confirmed, the quote ï§may be regarding man's poor understanding of the elementary and basic nature of the matter on which he lives upon, that is to say, the atom. That all changed once Rutherford and the scientists who followed his footsteps published their findings about the atom to the public world.
Classifying the Various Forms of Radiation.
To begin with, Rutherford, after many experiments devised the names alpha (ï¡), beta (ï
•), and gamma (ï§) rays or particles in order to classify the various forms of radiation, a concept that was poorly understood at the time. He concluded that on the one hand, ï¡-particles were positively charged, and on the other hand, that ï
•-particles were in contrast negatively charged while the third ray, the ï§-particle was a neutral particle.
The Gold Foil Experiment and the Nuclear Model.
In his most famous experiment, Rutherford discharged ï¡-particles into a thin piece of gold foil surrounded by a zinc sulfide screen through a particle emitter in order to see the direction the particles will take after contacting the foil.